ALAMEDA — When Jennifer Fox and her husband were searching for a place to open a brewery, they knew one spot offered an ideal location.

“There is no better place to have a business than Alameda,” said Fox, who grew up on the Island. “And for us, there is no better place in Alameda than Park Street.”

Alameda Island Brewing Company has been serving up beer in what was once an auto dealership at 1716 Park St. since February, when Fox and her husband, Matt Fox, hosted a soft opening.

Among those who showed up to sample that first batch of beer were representatives from Berkeley’s Triple Rock Brewery, Faction Brewing at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, and the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, a pioneer in artisan and microbrewing.

“They all came out,” Jennifer Fox said. “It meant a lot for us to have such community support.”

While their brewery is now open each afternoon and evening (except on Mondays and Tuesdays), the couple is planning a grand opening later this month.

The Alameda Island Brewing Company is the latest change at the northern end of Park Street, the stretch between Lincoln Avenue and the Park Street Bridge that city officials consider a “gateway” because it helps link downtown with Oakland and Interstate 880.

Walgreens opened in September last year a block south of the brewery, and Thai Noodle House of Alameda is set to move from 1635 Park St. to a spot neighboring the brewery.

“It’s a newer and better location for them,” said Robb Ratto of the Park Street Business Association. “It has more space and there’s parking at the rear of the building.”

Not all has been good news from the area, however.

The same month that then-Mayor Marie Gilmore and others gathered for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of Walgreens, an arsonist torched five businesses on Park Street, causing an estimated $2.6 million in damage.

The burned businesses included Brite 1-Hour Cleaners across the street from the pharmacy. Nearly six months after the arsons the sidewalk in front of the gutted business remains closed as crews work to repair the building.

Also targeted was Angela’s, a restaurant on the same block as the dry cleaners that was to open three days before the fires.

Owner Saboor Zafari now plans to reopen Angela’s in a portion of the Mediterranean-style building that was recently built between Walgreens and the Marketplace, a former site of a Ford dealership that now houses Alameda Natural Grocery and other specialty businesses.

While Zafari plans to reopen Angela’s in late spring, no target date for the move by the Thai Noodle House of Alameda has been announced.

In the wake of the arsons, Brite 1-Hour Cleaners reopened in the Bridgeside Shopping Center on Blanding Avenue.

Alameda resident Marion Gallen said she was pleased to see businesses returning, even if it’s taking a bit of time.

“It was sad to see all the damage after the fires,” the 24-year-old Gallen said as she shopped at the Marketplace on a recent afternoon. “It made the block seem blighted. And seeing how long it has taken to repair the damage goes to show hard it can be for a business to bounce back after a blow like that.”

Ratto said other changes are planned for the neighborhood, including an additional crosswalk at Park Street and Buena Vista Avenue.

“It’s something that we have wanted for quite some time, but especially now with the brewery opening and the anticipated extra foot traffic,” he said. “It will make for better pedestrian safety.”

City officials are also considering installing sensors in the area’s traffic signals, which would allow the signals to change light colors based on the traffic level or to facilitate an emergency vehicle, Ratto said.

“There’s stuff happening and we are hoping for more changes on Park Street,” he said.

The effort to open Alameda Island Brewing took three years, which Matt Fox said was sometimes frustrating.

Now that he’s finally pulling pints, Fox said he is looking forward to growing the business in the years ahead. But he does not plan to serve food, just make better and better beer.

“We want to get our beer into local restaurants and shops,” he said. “That’s our goal. We don’t want to compete with them by offering food. We want to be good neighbors.”

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